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[0:10] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:15] Robert Bannon: Hi, everybody, and welcome to the Roundtable. My name is Robert Bannon. I am so excited to be with you here. Sometimes we are heard on the Broadway Podcast Network. Sometimes you're watching us on YouTube, but we're here all the time trying to give you art and artists talking about art. Sometimes we have a lot of fun and we have really fun, light topics, and sometimes we have to talk about something a little serious. And today we're talking about a little something serious. We're talking about a short film that is really gorgeous and brilliant and deep called Our Males and Females. Filmmaker and director is gonna be here. And I'm excited to talk to Ahmad Alyaseer about this topic. Um, it is grown, it is deep, it is serious.

It will show you how lucky we are to live in a place where we have some freedoms, even though they're trying to be stripped away. Um, this is political and it's not political because it is about human beings. So we're gonna talk about this emotionally charged story that's eligible for an Oscar nomination, and I am so excited and honored to have the filmmaker here with us as a part of the queer community. I think it's so important we see what goes on in other cultures, religions, and parts of the world. And uh here we go. So there's the film, as we were just talking about in our introduction, Our Males and Females, um, as it sets its sights on the Oscars, it's eligible for Oscar nomination, which is such a huge deal.

But more importantly, it is such an important uh story told. This show talks a lot about art and queer art and the world. We've been a big voice, as much of a voice as we can for the trans community and for the queer community as a whole. And it takes a lot of courage and bravery for Ahmad Alyaseer to be able to put together this film and put it out here for the world for us to see it. Ahmad, welcome to the show.

[1:58] Ahmad Alyaseer: Hi, thank you for uh having me.

[2:00] Robert Bannon: Oh my goodness. I was able to sit through the first the 45-second trailer and then I watched the 11-minute movie and I needed to talk to you. Here I am and you are um you're in Jordan right now, yes, uh where it's at night, it's late at night due to our time change, and you made time to be with us. Your film has been in almost a hundred film festivals, has won numerous awards uh awards for you as director, producer, writer, etc., and the film and all, but it is not seen in many of the places that the film may be relevant or take place in because of different bans and different laws on the books. What gave you the courage to tell the story?

[2:45] Ahmad Alyaseer: Um, well, um, this is um a nice question. Uh, well, uh first the LGBTQ community um in my region, like you get to meet lots of people with um difficult stories. Um, being part of the film community in Jordan, um you see lots of people from the LGBTQ community and they're very open with each other, you know, because we're in the film industry, there are no boundaries, no judgments, and we're comfortable. But you realize that they live double lives, like they're very open with their peers from the community, but when it comes to their families, um they're not really open about who they really are. So, um, yeah, you get to meet lots of sad stories. But specifically, this film was inspired after my sister and I met Bussi, a transgender woman from the Middle East.

Uh, she got official approval to transition. And when she did, she thought this is the end of, you know, all the hardships that she faced in her life, and it would be the beginning of her new life, only to realize that things got even harder. She wasn't accepted from family, from her friends, from her closer community. And what's even sadder is her legal papers didn't change, so her ID was still stating that she's a male, and you can imagine the amount of interrogation she gets when she's pulled over or when someone asks for her official ID. Um, and this triggered the question of if a transgender person dies, will the discrimination still prevail? And that was the starting point of how we came up with the story.

[5:00] Robert Bannon: Yeah, wow. Um, yes, and you know, it's easy for us here in the United States to say, especially in the world today, especially with everything that's going on, wars in the Middle East and all of the politicizing topics like the queer community and the Middle East and Islam versus Judaism and all of the things that people are talking about in the news. It's easy for us in America to say, oh, well, we deal with the queer community this way, or we deal with trans. We have almost 400 laws that are trying to be passed in the United States to oppress the trans community and drag community and queer community, and also it's a worldwide human rights issue. And we're not talking about what we think is right or wrong. You're talking about just being able to be allowed to exist.

[5:47] Ahmad Alyaseer: Yes.

[5:50] Robert Bannon: For people like me who was not raised in this religion or in this culture, what does it mean when you say the story is about the body of this trans person being washed after death? What is the symbolism? What part of religion, what does it mean for us who don't know what that means?

[6:11] Ahmad Alyaseer: Um, are you referring to the ritual of washing the body?

[6:17] Robert Bannon: Yeah, um, well, this is mandatory in our religion and in our culture. It's a way to honor the dead person by washing them. Um, and to clear things out, um, in the story of Bussi, who inspired us to write this film, um, she didn't have any issues with the religion because she got the approval to transition. And in the region, if you want to transition, you need to get the approval from the court and from the official religious court. And that's what we try to hint when the female washer comes out of the room, and then the mother says, um, you're not a sheikh, because we got the approval from the sheikh. So she got the approval, but the sad thing is um she's facing traditions and cultures, and you know, it's I think it's a matter of traditions rather than religion.

[7:24] Robert Bannon: Yes, absolutely. So in the film, so and the acting in this, whoo boy. Um, it says here in the press release that um a father and mother are faced with a painful task of washing and shrouding their deceased transgender daughter when no one agrees to wash her. How far is uh to make sure that they are, meaning like the female washer won't wash her because she's transitioned and a male washer, the stigma of gender in this is really uh a question and opposed moral question that is so well done. What was it like to cast this? And how did you come up with this brilliant group of actors who play in this piece?

[8:11] Ahmad Alyaseer: I was honestly very lucky to have both Kamil Basha and Sophia Thtal playing the leading characters. Uh, I've worked with Shafiq Ka before on a TV series. We worked together for like 30 days, so I know her pretty well. Uh, she's a brilliant actress, but also um directing her on a TV show um made me get to know her better on a personal level. And I wanted to make sure that everyone who worked in this film, whether cast or crew, they believe in the story. Because it's a personal project, it was fully self-funded by me, and I wanted people to believe in the story. So um getting to know her on a personal level, I knew that she would be interested in this role, and even my sister and I, when we were buying the script, we couldn't imagine but her playing that role.

Like it was in our mind. And when I showed her the script, she was very happy. She said, of course I'm gonna star in it. Kamil Basha is a Palestinian actor. His recent feature film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. So I watched that film, it's called The Insult, and wow, he did an amazing job in the performance. And I was like, I really wish he would be on this film. And when he read the script, he was like, I'm all the way in.

[9:38] Robert Bannon: Amazing. What's it's meant to be?

[9:40] Ahmad Alyaseer: That's it. It was meant to be. I um, here's uh a little bit of a banner of what it looks like. Uh, um Our Males and Females, it's 11 minutes, and when you can see it and where it's streaming and it's at a film festival, or if you're part of the nominating committee for the Academy Awards, make sure you don't miss this. Make sure you check out this. It's a powerful 11 minutes. Uh, it packs quite the punch to say the least.

[10:04] Robert Bannon: Thank you. Or with without please my excuse my naiveness being here and living in New York City and being uh naive to the culture. Were you in any danger putting the did you did you feel fear about making a movie such as this and putting it out?

[10:22] Ahmad Alyaseer: Uh, during filming, I don't think you would be in danger, because you know it's a closed set, every like just the crew know the story and all of that. Um, but I think it might get backlash when it's released in the region. Um, we're anticipating that. We couldn't release it until now, although it's uh it has played in more than a hundred festivals across 35 countries, but it didn't play in the Middle East yet. Uh, we're having our Middle East premiere in Carthage Film Festival in a month, so we're um, we're hoping that um people would accept the idea, but it was um banned from some countries for censorship issues, so yeah, I think, I think yeah, it's not that easy.

[10:39] Ahmad Alyaseer: What is the ultimate goal uh artistically? What do you hope people take away from when they watch this film, and then professionally, what do you hope the goal is of this film? Is it that nomination? Is it to be widely released? Is it a certain film festival that you want to win? What is the end result that you're striving for?

[10:39] Ahmad Alyaseer: Okay, um, uh the main message that I want the audience to get is that um if you're seeking approval in your life, you're never gonna get it, and you might die without getting it. So there's no need to stop seeking approval. Put your full energy and potential in the things that you like and don't waste your energy on uh getting approval. So that's to me the main message of the film. Um, on a professional level, if it makes it to the Oscars, like that would be the dream. Uh, I've been always obsessed about the Oscars. My sister and I, we would watch the Oscars even with the time difference. We would take days off. We have even a ritual called the Oscars night where we would uh, you know, predict the winners and yes, do some scores.

[12:18] Robert Bannon: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's crazy. Like the Oscars is a dream for us. Well, I'm ready to predict you as the winner. I'm ready. Ah, that would be like epic. And we would make history because there's um no Arab ever won an Oscar in history. Like there have been numerous Arab people who were nominated, but winners know. So yeah, that would be a milestone. That would be uh that would be amazing. Um I just feel so much uh inspire inspiration from the uh the idea that you could come up with this plan, make this piece, write it, get it funded, cast it, direct it, and then distribute it, and the work and time and effort and heart that you have to put into this beside your wallet, um is is enormous. Uh enormous. What has the reception been when you've gone to these film festivals and seen it on a screen and get to speak to people afterwards that it has touched?

[13:20] Ahmad Alyaseer: Honestly, the reception has been amazing. Like we didn't expect that. Like we knew we have uh a good piece, and and we just really want people to watch it, but then the reception just boomed, like um 16 Oscar qualifying film festivals, 100 festivals around the world, people's reaction in the theater. Like when I went to Clermont-Feran Film Festival and I was uh observing the audience, they're shocked the way they talk after the film, even if they're talking in French, like I would get the body impressions. Uh it was amazing, honestly. It it it is it's a beautiful, it's it is a beautiful piece. I know I keep saying that, but it is very it is so touching. What have you what has been the the reaction from people within the trans community or within the queer community who have seen this or or or have been raised with certain religions and certain rules? Have you heard from people that this has touched personally?

[14:17] Ahmad Alyaseer: Yes, uh, we've been nominated to numerous festivals um that go with the theme of LGBTQ. Uh I've got many messages uh from pay from people from the trans community on Instagram, and they were really touched. Some of them uh were saying we thought that um that um the the difficulties that we face in our country um are hard. But looking at your film, we understand that there are um even harder uh things to deal with. So yeah. Beautiful. I am so excited. So now the big question is how can we how can we watch it? Is there a way to watch it?

[15:03] Ahmad Alyaseer: Um, now it's playing in many festivals. Uh, if you go to the website, our malesandfemales.com, and then you scroll down to see the full list of festivals, you'll see like minimum 40 festivals haven't played it yet in the coming uh three to four months. Um also we're aiming to release it on um for free uh for a month uh while we're doing the campaigning. We still don't know the date yet, but it should be around November. So yeah. So we're gonna put the link to the website right below us right now so that you can go on and see when what film festival is playing in, and then you can make sure that you can get a ticket and watch it, and then as it's as you have information about when it's going to be streaming for free as it gets closer to Oscar qualifying and nominating season, then you'll be able to check it out and watch it because you're gonna want to see. I hear a rumor that you've worked on a feature, you're working on a feature of the same concept.

[15:57] Ahmad Alyaseer: True. So we're developing the short into a feature. Um where we're gonna dig more into the story of the daughter before she dies. Uh it also has shocking and hard elements, just like the short. Um, so yeah, we're hoping also this film would uh would get uh co-producers interested to be involved in the feature, you know, because shorts are the door to make your feature films. Well, I mean, qualifying Oscar uh Buzz and festivals. I I'm sure there are many producers out there and uh studios and distributors that are ready to get their hands on something like this because it is so timely and so important that we are living this around the world, it is such a relevant topic. What is has your thoughts or your feelings changed as you've gotten through the making this film and then seeing it and this community as you've gotten to different film festivals around the world, has it opened your mind up even more so than when you came up with this idea?

[17:03] Ahmad Alyaseer: Um, you mean after doing the film? Uh honestly, we got um we got people from the other region who are interested to watch it from the trans community. Um we heard more stories, and and those stories uh we tried to to be inspired by them while we're developing our uh feature fun. Um, the whole journey of making a short film is is really a roller coaster with everything, like with festivals, with the reception, with the rejections, like you know, it's true. Like we won numerous awards and went to different festivals, but we got also like tons of rejections. So yeah, this whole you know, roller coaster of up and down is you get to live it.

[17:56] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. And look, even my dog is very excited right now about this because he's going crazy. He's always ruining the shot. He's always you would as a director, you would be so upset. Um, when we watch this, I want people to just know that no matter where you live around the world, no matter what religion you are, no matter what gender you are, ethnicity you are, it is a human story about parents, about uh a child, and it is something relatable in the queer community, in the trans community, in the human community it period. It is just about family and love and respect and being who you are, and that's what makes this so beautiful. It's a story for everybody, and you did that and told that story so eloquently well.

[18:38] Ahmad Alyaseer: Thank you, thank you so much. I want everyone to go to the website. I want everyone to support the film if you see it in a festival, and I want everyone to tell somebody about it, especially if you have family, friends, people need to evolve, see or be seen. Make sure you spread the word about it. And um, we're looking forward to what's next and what's to come for you.

[18:56] Robert Bannon: Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations and congratulations! And we will be so excited as the time comes that more projects. Please, our show is your show. We would love to continue to support and show our love for all the art and artistry that you show.

[19:11] Ahmad Alyaseer: Thank you so much, Robert.

[19:13] Robert Bannon: Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you, Picture. Ooh, boy. You know, we talk about the trans community here, we talk about the queer community here, but we don't even think about it. Uh at least I don't even think about it in terms of I I know I have friends from Africa, and I know how what the queer and the gay laws are, LGBT laws are in Africa. And I've heard about it. You hear about it in China, you hear about it in North Korea, obviously, communist countries. I I never even thought about what it would be like in the Middle East. I didn't even know if it was possible. I didn't even know if it would be something that would be allowed to be shot and distributed. As you heard, it's not been easy, but it takes a lot of courage, and it takes a lot more than just artistic integrity and uh and uh ability and talent. It takes bravery to stand in the face of something like this.

[20:00] Robert Bannon: In history, I truly believe there is going to be a right side to this, and the right side is going to be to let people be who they are and to just love on them and let them be and to feel free to express who they truly genuinely feel that they are in their spirit and their body. And I hope that as we continue to make art, it's really no. As we make art.

[20:40] Ahmad Alyaseer: No.

[20:42] Robert Bannon: No bark.

[20:44] Robert Bannon: Yeah. As we make art and as we continue to explore and learn more about ourselves and the world we live in and people, and that people are just people. I hope we could just learn to love and accept each other a little bit more. You know, we've had some serious topics this week, but we have some fun topics too. So make sure you continue to watch us here at the round table with me. And I look forward to seeing you on social media. Follow me, Robert M. Bannon, on Instagram or go to RobertBannon.com for more information. Shows, concerts, live albums, interviews. So much life going on out here. And uh, I hope to see you next time. God bless you. Thank you for being here, and I will see you again. Remember, the best is always yet to come.